~Inganock's 2nd Year, Unknown Season. Abandoned District~
8th tier of Inganock.
A relatively large area of humans (of fantasy and human interaction) in the Fantasy City that begun to recover and regenerate from a whole year full of pain and death. Thus, things that were once talked about before the city became distorted could be discussed.
That being any topics of someone with power or influence that died or were killed. Beneath in the 9th tier, such topics were not discussed. Death was full and brought upon it to the people living there.
By the Monsters and Critters there.
The only rumors, for example, were the words of the Great Duke, whose brilliance opened up this world of pain, and that of the Street Knight, who was called the noblest and strongest.
In the 8th tier, however, talks of human life and death was told.
Street urchins and women on street corners? The elderly? Children?
It was certain that such a thing where one often dies day and night in various parts of the city regardless of it being on the 8th tier. But such things never came out of the mouth of anyone. Those who had power were talked about. Those of authority. Those of influence. In other words, in this case, it was Jid, one of the profiles who ran the "Kuzu Iron Passage" area on the 8th tier.
Jid was dead. He was murdered.
Killed in his own home on the outskirts of the 8th tier suburbs.
His mistress, who was the first to discover him, was as much of a severe drug addict as his other 4 mistresses, going mad from the tragic room and regained her sanity for about 20 minutes. Jid's corpse was bent in all directions of impossible angles, as though it was twisted by itself. His body crashed into the wall and crushed his skull, and was stuck to the ceiling by some extra thin invisible threads. Various rumors were told from the center of the 8th tier, but none spoke about the involvement of the criticized "Street Knight". In other words, just before Jid was killed, none spoke about the contact between a group of Runners he hired and Crack Chrome in a back alley or, as the rumors of Jid say, how his corpse became like this "by himself".
The scene of this "incident" was blocked off by the city management department, and Jid's mistress who went mad and continued the gesture of trying to get the threads off of his body were taken away from the management department after that. No one knew where he went. No one spoke of it. However, most of the dark rumors that people have talked on the city management department many times have become true, such as giving up on the fact that someone great had died and the city management department going out of their way from the 1st tier...at best, it was a slight shiver while sipping a cold ale in an engine room.
And...
Inganock's 10th tier.
There was a man in a thick forest-like rubble of minerals.
The man was the Knight. "Street Knight" Crack Chrome who the city administration was looking for. He was seen in the 10th tier, another tier below the 8th. The living area of humans was very narrow compared to the 8th tier and even now after two years since the Revival, it was an "abandoned district" akin to a stone forest made of countless ruins and debris. Of course, there weren't any decent humans or fantasy races here. As the name implies, only the abandoned ones are here.
For example, there was rubble. Machines that didn't work. Things that have decayed and withered to the point even insects haven't gathered there. And now, even the Street Knight hid without any reason away from the management department.
How did he get here?
He remembered the time when he had some humanity left in him prior to the replacement surgery, which turned almost his whole body into Crack Engines. He remembered it. He had not forgotten it even if some of his memory was lost. He recalled one of the pillars connecting the tiers, the remains of a transport elevator leading to the bottom that was no longer operational. He smashed the beak of the distorted Monster Cockatrice lurking in the elevator with a single flash of his hand where he lost his posture and fell to the 10th tier. He pried open the elevator doors that were shut for 2 years and headed to the stone forest, arriving in the "abandoned district" where no one would approach it.
He didn't get the feeling he escaped. But he was certain he did.
He saw the city management department pursue him and escape far away. Crack Chrome chose to flee with muddled memories that persisted for unknown reasons and the near-compulsive desire to wander around. He was already aware that there was no point for him to stay in the 7th tier since he had asked Jid, one of the 7th tiers profilers. He had lied about owning a Critter and did not give any answers to which he sought, namely information on the Man Critter Interface.
And he found himself in the stone forest asking this...
Why did he kill Dragon?
The King of Death and Fantasy King, Critter Dragon.
"I...killed..."
While wandering through the stone forest, he staggered due to an abnormal sensation and abnormal connection (described as headache and dizziness by normal people) caused by information nerve damage that may have originated from lack of memory, and sat down in a corner of rubble. Through a visual device, Crack Chrome's brain told him of a young child whose body has mutated into an insect-like fantasy form, staring at him with curious big eyes and offering him a glass.
For there to be such a fantasy race...were they a street urchin?
There was not a gap in the information on humans that would have given him doubts at the time, something he would have noticed in peace times unless most of his brain area were being unusable outside of combat activities due to muddled memories. The child was also abandoned, much like that of the myarid number of rubble and broken machines in the stone forest.
"Want some...water?"
"...ah. Thank you."
He let out the words while booting up his auxiliary brain.
Normally he would only activate it when his head is damaged or when fighting a Critter. The information area of the auxiliary brain, which was almost occupied entirely by combat-specific skill-wire programs, temporarily expanded by automatically administrating illegal drugs stored in the body to the nerves, using it up so as to cope with non-combat situations. He succeeded in regaining a bit of resemblance of emotions, staring at the cup he was about to receive from the child with big eyes who presented it.
"No, I don't need any water. You should drink it."
"I can't drink."
This fantasy child. Even inferring its ecology from its appearance was difficult with his brain being pressured by muddled memories. Its gender was unknown due to its mutation making it a hermaphrodite. But oddly this street urchin, who was probably a girl by their human voice, could not eat or drink. There are many kinds of insect types with degenerated proboscis. Such a thing could happen in this Fantasy City.
And judging by the time of their mutation, this child could no longer ingest anything.
What would happen when the body loses all its nutrients? Even he, who can only think once from a small part of his auxiliary brain can understand it. When one loses all their nutrients, they die. Simple as that.
"I can't drink, so you can take it."
"...ah. Then I'll accept it."
With his hand outstretched, Crack Chrome touches it.
In that time...
"Someone" behind him spoke "something".
But he did not take notice of it.
As though it was made to be that way by someone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The sound of a clock.
The sound of a clock.
Tick tock.
Tick tock.
Tick tock.
The clock that was embedded in it by someone echoes.
And it groans as the time draws near.
Observing Crack Chrome and presenting them with a whisper.
It was a ball-jointed doll in the shape of a beautiful girl.
They were a size or two smaller than a human, but were stronger than one. It was far crueler. It was far more innocent.
Crueler. Innocent. It hid and stared at him.
With her pretty lips, a terrifying Critter voice echoes...
"The time. Time. The time is near.
My time. The time I desire.
Here. Me, my own still creature, Crack Chrome."
"The "time" that I desire."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~Inganock's 2nd Year, Unknown Season. 7th Tier~
...Who was it that killed Jid?
...was it the Street Knight?
Oona may have been alone in thinking that thought.
Oona saw it. She saw the Street Knight hunt down Jid. Crack Chrome was deathly strong for having a slender body. She thought her eyes went mad. What Oona saw when he kicked aside the escort and boarded Jid's hideout was a horrifying corpse, yet that was clearly no longer the Street Knight.
He didn't even try to silence the Runners guarding him. Even if alone, he would have said nothing. If she were to say even the littlest about the fact they were helplessly defeated by one person, they would be dead by tomorrow. Not just food, but even some of the little drug gang wannabes would talk down on them. And above all, Oona was used to hearing such rumors.
Rumors, information, all that sort of thing.
Oona had a good understanding of how rumors work.
That was why she finds the quality of rumors circulating about to be quaint. And it was true. Oona learned about the city administration's movements after being warned from an acquaintance of a hacker, considering the possibility that this would have been too big of a case that would have been too boring if she backed out. It was no fun that way and so she decides to go in further.
Specifically, she demonstrated her inherent tenacity more relentless than the Monster Naga. Humans cannot suppress their curiosity, something Oona took pride in. In time, the special present would change every week. Eventually, she got information from a hacker. According to their story, going by the name D, a man that looked like Crack Chrome was in the R district in the 10th tier, hiding out in a street urchin's nest for some reason.
Just what was going on here?
She couldn't have understood it. The Street Knight, in a street urchin's nest?
Before she could be in disbelief, before she can be surprised, she had to deal it with right away. Time was of the essence. In order to get to the site before the city administration, who wielded power and motion in a sluggish manner, she had to devise a plan to get there first.
First, she needed directions. A guide.
The 10th tier's R district, one of the so-called "abandoned districts", had no interaction with any human areas of each tier that quickly came back to life from the reconstruction movement. It was an old city. That is to say, it had nothing to do with production or with an engine industry, only a dead area. The exterminate Monsters operation led by the orders of the upper tier had just reached the 2nd tier yet it won't touch the 10th tier. It was a devilish area where dangerous Monsters roam, where even Critters can be found there. The number of Critters said to still be active without falling into unexplained dormancy was still in the double digits. There were too many of them.
The 10th tier's R district. A district that still had nightmares from the Revival. A forest of stone buried in rubble. Everything was thrown away there. Whether it was organic or inorganic, it was a city of trash. A stone forest. An "abandoned district" where everything is sparse. And still, it covered most of the city's reality.
To even go over there...
She needed a familiar human.
And Oona had heard the story of someone going over to the abandoned district once. Duke had brought news of this to the pad nearly an hour ago. Duke, who continued to stare at her breasts with his big insect eyes, brought up a strange person. An eccentric one. They called themself the "Wandering Doctor", walking around the city across the tiers using the Cracking Effect, even going to places like the "abandoned district".
Sometimes even going down to the bottom tiers.
"Wandering Doctor?"
"Yeah. He seems to use the Phenomena Equation."
"Like what the Great Duke has said of it, yeah? Like fire and ice?"
"Well, it's nothing like that."
"So what is the Wandering Doctor?"
"I've also heard the Doctor is cheap too."
"What?"
"Well, I might have heard it wrong then. They're a black doctor, and though they're registered as a citizen, they don't have a license issued by the city management department. They even come to poor people like me. And they're very popular among the poor people in the 9th tier. From the talks of those in the 9th tier's slums, they say he'll even go to the 10th tier."
"Even poor people~?"
"That's right."
"Doctors are the kind that go and do business with the rich folks, don't they?"
"Yeah. Well, they have a reputation for being a very insane weird guy."
"...weird. I see."
Oona knew of such a person.
She recalled some people who likely did something like that one day two years ago. But before the day had ended, before the date changed, those idiots had died. They were as dead as an insect without a proboscis. Even those who barely survived that day had either gone mad, committed suicide, or were killed in the last two years and have not been heard from since. And this weirdo, who would do something for others...no. Rather than a weirdo...
"It's not that, Duke."
"Hm??
"They're not a weirdo. No no, they're just an idiot who will get themselves killed. To think this guy could still be alive, or unless they went insane? What kind of name they got?"
"It's a pretty short name, yeah. It's something with a G or an E."
Gii. That person's name was Gii.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"...and that's why I chose you."
Inganock's 7th tier....
In a single room apartment on one leg street.
In the end, Oona decided to ask this man to be her guide to the 10th tier's R district, which was only visited by those abandoned or want to commit suicide. The reward was high. Though she wasn't sure how much she would pay, after seeing the small apartment, she was convinced this was it and decided to go. Though considering he can be anywhere at any time, it would have been ill-advised and a waste of money to give they would not take. Even if he had talent, he would make no use of it. It would be a waste.
She opens the door without permission and knocking. Oona didn't hesitate to walk into the room, throw her favorite hat at the black cat girl not knowing if the Pucelle was an escort or mistress, which stopped her from moving towards the intruder, and thrusts her prideful legs in front of the man who was looking over at some documents that appear to be medical records at his desk.
Negotiations have started. Here, this was it went down.
This was a way that can get others who do things based on circumstances and waste their talents without ever getting paid. That was the rule of thumb she learned 2 years ago. Her action was bold, her voice smooth and gentle. And her gaze which could pierce and make them shook slightly.
Showing off the "natural human" body she had.
The legs and breasts too. Though it was a body she knew could get her money, she gave off a gaze that slammed and watered down over a hundred men so far.
"I can't exactly tell you the reason, is that alright?
It's nothing bad. Of course, I can offer something other than money.
If you want, for example, you could..."
Her voice was light in luster.
She could hear Duke grunt a little saying "this ain't it, miss", and saw the black cat girl puff out her tail. Yes, the black cat girl who couldn't move from the hat she received. She didn't know if she was an escort or a mistress but neither of which was being fulfilled right now. She was surely just doing that to imitate the Runner. She once saw her talking to a Runner in an unfamiliar manner when the city was being restored. Her style was unfixed, she had a thin archetype, and the air of a fresh Runner. If she were to be left alone, she would be dead by the week after next. She thought in the back of her mind on playing around with this black cat as Oona eyes her in the room sitting on a chair. This man. His name was a pseudonym. Gii.
"...You want a guide to the 10th tier?"
"That's correct."
"I see. So you are a Runner, I take."
"Yes. So how about it? We can work something out. Make you feel good even."
"That'll be enough. I can show you around. I don't need the money."
"What?"
Money was good. Don't they have any?
In a city where people kill others for just a single silver coin?
"I also have a need to go to the 10th tier myself soon.
You can follow if you want, I don't mind."
"Have you heard about it? In the "abandoned district, there is..."
"I also have something to do over there."
"...huh...?"
...the hell?
....was this man more interested in trash than my legs?
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